


The Rains of Oasis

by Mystic_Harley



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22900954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystic_Harley/pseuds/Mystic_Harley
Summary: Answering a distress signal, the Doctor and Peri land on planet that's coated in eternal rainfall.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	The Rains of Oasis

Oasis was a miserable, wet place and Peri hated it almost immediately. Landing in between two large and sturdy trees, the TARDIS cast a deep shadow across the two travelers. Peri shrunk back a little against the doors as a peal of thunder shook the leaves and made water drip down on top of her head. If she wasn’t wearing the heavy parka, she would be soaked.    
  
Her friend, that mysterious man known only as the Doctor, seemed unaffected by the rain. THe only protection he wore was a similar-looking parka on his shoulders and head. Digging into his pockets, he placed something gently in Peri’s hand. He said something, but the rain and the thunder was so loud that she had absolutely no idea what he was saying. She shook her head to show she didn’t understand and he mimed to put them into her ears.   
  
When she did so, all of the noise faded away into a gentle background lull. “Psychic earplugs.” The Doctor said triumphantly, before looking off in the distance and pulling out a bleeping gizmo from one of his pockets.    
  
“Why are we here, Doctor” She asked, scrunching her nose unhappily as her friend began to move out into the thick dark jungle.    
  
“A distress signal.” The Doctor called out over the noise. “Stay close, I don’t want you getting lost!”   
  
Even bundled up for the weather it was dreadfully cold. The Doctor had said it was to do with the wind sheer but Peri wasn’t paying attention. All she wanted to do was to get back in the TARDIS and have a nice hot chocolate to warm her up. The dark clouds hung overhead like a bristling curtain, flashes of lightning periodically dotting the dreary landscape. Mud and water splashed out as they fought through the thicket, Peri’s boots making odd squelching noises as she fought to pull them from the mud.   
  
"Shouldn't be far now." He called out, waving the winking device that pierced the darkness with a flashing orange light. "The signal is getting stronger, we must be getting close." A sudden burst of wind nearly blew them both over, and the Doctor reached out and grabbed tightly onto Peri's hand so she wouldn't be thrown off her feet. They were flattened against a large thick tree, wind and rain whipping against their huddled forms until it died down and the usual downpour continued. Even through the thick parka, Peri could see her friend's face was creased with curiosity and concern. "Come on, let's hurry. I don’t think we’ll be so lucky the next time winds like that hit.”   
  
Making their way through the forest Peri noted how thick, for lack of a better word, all of the plant life was. Everything from the trees, the grass, the leaves, and even the flowers seemed to swell with water and life, great lily pads floated above deep pools of water even further into the jungle. Even the mud was far larger than back on Earth. The canopy over their heads offered little protection from the constant rain. “What on Earth is this place?” She called out, hugging herself a little and ducking her head to avoid a giant leaf slapping her in the face. “You told me it’s name, but why would anyone want to come here?”   
  
The Doctor struggled as he began pulling at a large branch in the path, motioning for Peri to come over and help and with the loud groan and snap of wood, they tossed it aside. “Oasis, Peri is a planet that’s constantly covered in rainfall, as you may have already guessed. From pole to pole there’s an eternal rainstorm that’s raging on above and around us. That’s why people would come here, that sort of thing isn’t natural.”    
  
Peri frowned, she knew a little about how rain was formed thanks to her grade school science classes, and something didn’t seem right with that description. “Where’s the rain coming from? Or better yet, why isn’t this place just one big ocean? Surely if it rains that much, the whole place would flood.”    
  
“A good question.” The Doctor acknowledged and offered a proud little smile. “One that I don’t have the answer too, I suspect that’s what whoever sent the distress call came to find out. Nearly there now, keep up!”   
  
They marched in silence through the jungle and the mud had gotten even deeper and thicker. Several times they had to stop to help each other get unstuck from the ground. Peri’s feet were freezing as they squished around with the mud in her boots. The wind began to pick up again, flinging the dirty substance across her parka until they finally fought through the forest line. The Doctor had already climbed up on the elevated surface and helped Peri as she climbed up the slippery ladder. “Must have been constructed for the researchers to walk along so they wouldn’t have to go dredging in the mud.” Her friend mused to himself, looking down at their feet in fascination.   
  
They had climbed up on top of what resembled a big metal track. Dull and rusted, sleek with water dribbling down its sides and creating miniature waterfalls ran off in either direction. There was another flash of lightning and in the distance she could make out the large shape of a structure, although she couldn’t make out anything else in the darkness. The Doctor held up his bleeping gizmo and it started flashing faster than before. With an affirmative nod, he tucked it away again and began walking along the path. “Watch your step!” He called out, walking carefully towards the structure.   
  
The closer they got, the louder the sound of roaring waves reached Peri’s ears. She looked down, surprised to see that they had seemingly left the forest behind and instead underneath them was nothing but dirty, muddy water, occasionally splashing around them and making her jump slightly. “We must be near a beach!” She called out over the noise, although the Doctor wasn’t paying any attention to her anymore.   
  
He slapped his palm in frustration of a lifeless box that he had been toying around with “Dead!” He huffed, and with a great tug he pried open the box and began fiddling around with the wires, jumping back a little when a few sparks coiled in the air, hissing against the rain. “Aha, that should do it!” He proclaimed, closing the box and pressing a few buttons.   
  
An old rusted door hissed and began creaking open slowly, stopping halfway. The machinery had obviously been in a state of disuse after so much time. Periwas surprised it still worked at all, and they had to push the rest of the door open, revealing a dark corridor ahead. The Doctor stepped in cautiously, touching a few controls on a mercifully dry panel on the opposite wall. A low hum filled the air and lights began flickering on down the corridor, bathing everything in a flickering, blue glow..   
  
Stepping further into the building, the smell of rusted metal and decay made Peri’s nose itch uncomfortably. “It looks abandoned.” She noted disdainfully, eyeing the way the plant life had seeped in through the walls and had completely covered them with moss and vines.   
  
“It is.” The Doctor confirmed, sadness creeping into his tone. “I think it’s been abandoned for years, I suspect our signal has been going out for quite some time, ignored by all who come across it. The best we can do now is find out what happened. We each take half of the building. You go left, I go right.” And before she could argue the point, The Doctor disappeared down the hallways, leaving Peri alone.   
  
Sighing to herself, she rubbed her hands together to keep them warm and headed down the other hallway, glancing around nervously as the lights flickered in and out and water dripped down onto the floor to create puddles which splashed as she walked through them. Most of the doors she tried were either rusted shut or wouldn’t open. Light spilled in from a slightly open doorway however, and she squeezed herself through to see what was on the other side.   
  
Peri was standing in a large room with a broken glass dome making up a large portion of the window. Broken shards were strewn across the floor and glittered slightly every instant the lightning flashed. Computer banks sat cold and dead near one end of the room, with mossy and rotted furniture scattered about. Stepping carefully over the glass, she peered out the window to try and see what was outside.   
  
A large wave of water splashed over the top of the dome and crashed down on top of her. She shrieked out in alarm and danced back, shouting curses. Now completely soaking, she watched unhappily as another torrent of water crashed down into the room before receding away. She waited for a minute before cautiously approaching the window and looking out again.   
  
Waves lapped at a cliff-face. What was undoubtedly the largest canyon that Peri had ever seen had been filled completely with churning and rolling water. The Doctor would have been able to tell her exactly how large it was, but she was in complete awe at the sheer size of what was clearly something even bigger than the Grand Canyon, turned from a sprawling basin into a roaring ocean.   
  
“I guess that answers my question about the water.” She muttered unhappily to herself. Lightning flashed over the sky and a gust of wind crashed against Peri, forcing her back out into the hallway and hugging herself for warmth. Shivering and colder than ever, Peri turned and began to retrace her steps to rejoin the Doctor, not noticing the flashing light   
  
The signal tracker was growing louder as the Doctor neared its source. He typed away at an old rusted control pad and the door shuddered open, and he began coughing and pulled out a handkerchief to cover his face as the stench of years of decay and rot had finally been freed from their makeshift tomb. Stepping in cautiously, the Doctor was met with a grisly sight. The room was full of corpses, skeletons with rotting flesh and mossy bones littered the room, all in various poses as if they hadn’t had enough time to escape. A big scorch mark was burned into the center of the room, and he squinted and looked up at the ceiling where a large hole had been punctured in the metal. One of the terminals was still active, a few lights blinking away on the screen. The Doctor walked over, and typed in a few commands, shutting off the SOS signal for good.   
  
Now that he had found the source and a working computer, the Doctor was typing feverishly to try and understand what had happened here, either through logs someone had left behind or just finding the last research update and working back. Heishands worked furiously at the wet and slick keys, struggling to keep the terminal dry long enough to find the information as the rain poured around him. Most of the information was corrupted thanks to the damage and age, but se was able to find a mostly complete report.   
  
“We finally have an understanding about why it rains so much here on Oasis. The storms aren’t a natural phenomenon at all. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself, but the evidence is staring at us in the face. I’m just amaejlkfsgio-oi902q=” And then the corruption started again.   
  
He hit the edge of the machine in frustration, looking around the room and at the skeletons again. “What killed all of you so quickly…” He voiced quietly, keeping his eyes on the corpses until Peri shoved her way into the room   
  
“Oh, that’s horrible.” She choked, covering her face with a trembling and dripping hand. “What happened here?”   
  
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” The Doctor said, walking over to one of the skeletons and kneeling down, examining it carefully. “It looks like there’s… burn marks on the bones. Come here, look.”   
  
“I’d rather not, I feel sick..” Peri said uneasily, she already felt her lunch starting to come back up.   
  
Ignoring her companion’s bout of nausea, The Doctor leaned in a little closer. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say they were electrocuted to death. But how…” He pursed his lips, wondering what it meant by ‘The storms aren’t a natural phenomenon’.    
  
“We’re on the cliff side of a giant canyon.” Peri piped in, squinting up at the hole in the roof to try and distract herself from the dead bodies everywhere. “I have no idea how big it was but the entire thing was filled with water and when the wind picked up again it splashed all over me. It was at least bigger than the Grand Canyon back on Earth.”   
  
“That’s another thing that’s odd about this situation. The wind. Sometimes it’s calm, sometimes it’s raging. I’ve never seen weather patterns like it.” The Doctor drummed his fingers against a wet console, frowning in concentration.   
  
“Maybe it’s not weather patterns then. Maybe it’s… I dunno, something big flying overhead. Like whenever a jet flies low to the ground it has a wind effect.” The Doctor stared at her for a moment, mouth slightly ajar. Peri bristled unhappily. “Well fine, if you think it was really that stupid of an idea…” She was cut off when the Doctor walked over and hugged the life out of her.   
  
“Peri, you’re a genius sometimes. Come on, back to the ship. I think I just solved the mystery of the Storms of Oasis.”   
  
The walk back to the ship was even more unpleasant for Peri because now she was soaked to the bone and it was getting colder by the second. Her teeth were chattering together and it took a great deal of effort to stop herself from violently quivering like the leaves rustling around her. It was a welcome relief when the Doctor opened the doors to the TARDIS and she felt a rush of warmth over-take her.   
  
Pulling off her layers and kicking her muddy and freezing boots off, Peri rubbed her arms a little to try and get more heat into her body as the Doctor busied herself at the controls, eyes intent until she smiled and pulled away, gesturing towards the scanner. “Have a look at the Storms of Oasis in flight.”   
  
It was the largest creature Peri had ever seen. Majestic and covered in dark blue lights that pulsed gently, seemingly swimming through the air. It was a long, flat creature with waving frills like that of an octopus surrounding the entire length. It opened its mouth and lightning danced around its body, the tail dipping a little underneath the cloud before it peered back up. “Take the earplugs out.” The Doctor instructed her quietly, and when she did so she leaped back in surprise when it opened its mouth again and a peal of thunder boomed out of the creature.   
  
“What are they?” Peri asked.   
  
“Thunder Eels.” The Doctor said, leaning against the console. “Massive, massive creatures that usually live underwater and harness electricity as a source of energy. But these eels evolved to fly in the sky, riding the eternal storm that they generate with their electricity control. They’ve grown so big that whenever they open their mouths it sounds like thunder. The researchers here more than likely agitated one of them and well… paid the price.”   
  
Peri nodded, still staring at the majestic creatures as one of them rose up through the stormy clouds and opened its mouth, a crack of thunder exploding out of its huge jaws.. “They’re gorgeous.” She whispered.   
  
“Yes, yes they are.” Wrapping an arm around his friend’s shoulders, the Doctor gently steered her away from the console. “Now let's get you warmed up. A nice hot cup of cocoa and a warm blanket for the both of us, I think.” Together, they walked down towards the kitchens, followed by the sound of the rain.

**Author's Note:**

> It feels so good to be writing again, and even better to be writing Six and Peri.


End file.
